Li Qingzhao

Li Qingzhao, Wade-Giles romanizationLi Ch’ing-chao, literary name (hao) Yi’an Jushi, also called Li Yi’an, (born 1084, Jinan, Shandong province, China—died after 1155, Jinhua, Zhejiang province), China’s greatest woman poet, whose work, though it survives only in fragments, continues to be as highly regarded as it was in her own day.

Li Qingzhao was born into a literary family and produced well-regarded poetry while still a teenager. In 1101 she married Zhao Mingcheng, a noted antiquarian, but their marriage was cut short in 1129 by his death during their escape from the Juchen dynasty’s takeover of Kaifeng, the capital of the Song dynasty. Continuing alone, she arrived at Hangzhou by 1132. Two years later she fled to Jinhua, where she died, probably after 1155.

Li Qingzhao produced seven volumes of essays and six volumes of poetry, but most of her work is lost except for some poetry fragments. She wrote primarily ci poetry, a song form. Her mastery of the metrical rules of the form was such that she produced one of the earliest known scholarly studies of ci. Her poetry is noted for its striking diction as well as for her focus on relating her personal experiences, giving her work more emotional intensity than that of her peers. Her poetic oeuvre reflects the dramas of her lifetime, with the earlier works marked by a carefree vitality and the pieces that she wrote after her husband’s death and her exile reflecting a sombre, grief-stricken tone.